Roller skating has long been enjoyed both as a sport and a recreational activity. Whether enjoyed in an indoor or outdoor environment, this activity employs special skates in the form of shoes adapted to be worn on the feet, with these shoes being provided with a plurality of wheels so that the skater may roll across a skate surface. Thus, a skater utilizing proper foot work may travel across the skate surface.
For a long time, traditional roller skates each had two pairs of metal rollers, a first pair located in opposed relation at the toe end of the skate and a second pair located in opposed relation at the rear of the skate. For many years, very little changed in the technology of the roller skate, and the popularity of roller skating stagnated. However, in relatively recent times, the popularity of roller skating has dramatically increased due to two advances in technology. First, metal wheels were replaced by high-impact plastic urethane wheels that were wider in profile and that provided greater contact friction with the skate surface. Second, manufacturers began to produce roller skates wherein a plurality of wheels were located longitudinally "in-line" rather than in opposed pairs. These in-line skates, commonly referred to as "roller blades" now command a significant share of the roller skating market. Further, due to the more versatile nature of roller blades provided with urethane wheels, roller skating has gone from an activity typically practiced in a confined area, such as a skating rink or local concrete or asphalt surface to a more far ranging activity wherein the skates serve as a means of transportation or distance exercise.
When roller skating was practiced in a confined area, the skate surface was normally a flat surface, but now a skater often ventures over wider terrain and is likely to encounter different surface grades. Thus, skaters now find themselves confronted with sloping surfaces that must either be ascend, descended or traversed. Where a skater is faced with an upwardly sloping skate surface, greater effort is necessary to advance therealong. Where a skater is faced with a downwardly sloping surface, there is a danger of losing control resulting in excessive speed and risk of injury. In order to help control excessive speeds on downhill grades, some roller skaters have recently resorted to use of a drag pole, usually home-made, in the form of a shaft provided with a rubber end caps at one end. When a skater gains excessive speed, the rubber stopper may be dragged to act as a brake. This rather crude pole lacks the ability to provide different contact pads for both propelling and braking; further, the soft rubber end caps are subjected to extensive wear.
The use of pole-like devices to control movement is, of course, not new. For many years, the snow skiers have employed ski poles as auxiliary equipment to aid in controlling motion. These ski poles are used to help propel the skier on upward slopes, as an aid in turning, as balancing devices and, in limited instances, maybe dragged in order to help brake the skier's motion. To serve these functions, a typical ski pole includes an elongated shaft having a handle at one end and a spike and basket assembly at an opposite end. In use, a skier presses the spiked end into a snow surface until the basket bears against the surface thereby allowing the skier to exert a force thereon. Of course, the use of ski poles on a skating surface would be impractical since a skate surface is ordinarily constructed of a relatively impenetrable material, such as asphalt, concrete, hardwood, etc.
Even though the sport and recreation of roller skating has been in existence for decades, there has not heretofore been developed a suitable skate pole which can be used by a skater in controlling his/her movement or which can act as an aid in balancing during a skating activity. Therefore, there has been a long felt need for this skate pole provided by the present invention, whether such a pole is used alone or whether a pair of such poles are used. There has been a further need for a skate pole which can be used as an aid in propelling a skater along uphill inclines, which can assist a skater in balancing and which can retard the motion of a skater when descending a downwardly sloping skate surface.